The Old South. 425
charge of cavalry upon a battery of Mexican artillery, " hold on. Charley, till I draw their fire upon myself." Ah ! my countrymen, that Old South did many unselfish deeds which, in the slang of the day, "didn't pay." But the world was made purer, nobler and better by them, and they should be as ointment poured forth, fragrant through all the ages.
Christopher Columbus has justly been considered mankind's greatest benefactor, and surely no one ever did great deeds under more adverse circumstances. Crowned heads had tantalized him with hope, but to baffle his expectations; jealous courtiers sneered at him; men of science called him a dreamer and a madman; his own sailors were insubordinate and mutinous. Through it all, this won- derful man had borne himself grandly, never losing heart or hope until success had crowned his efforts. The fame won by Columbus stimulated the enterprise of the world for the next three hundred and fifty years, until all the highways and byways of the ocean had been thoroughly explored, and all its creeks, bays and estuaries had been thoroughly surveyed. Then discovery ceased, and it was said that there were no more continents, no more islands, no more coral reefs, no more sand-bars to be found in all the wide waste of waters. This lull in discovery ceased until 1868, when an enterprising brother from somewhere north of Mason & Dixon's line announced to the startled world that he had discovered a hitherto unknown region of vast extent, with fertile soil, varied and wonderful products, the loveliest scenery and the finest climate on the globe cities, towns, villages and a vast rural population all speaking the English lan- guage, though it was not told whether they were Christian or heathen. The great navigator had called his discovery the New World, and other navigators had called theirs New Caledonia, New Zealand, New Britain, New Hebrides, New Holland, etc. ; this land navigator of the year of grace 1868, called his discovery the New South.
The thing stranger to me than even finding this hitherto unknown land is, that the English-speaking race discovered there have adopted the name given them, are proud of it, brag about it, and roll it as a sweet morsel under their tongues. All other barbarians have ic- sented the name imposed upon them by their discoverers, and have clung to their old names, their old ideas, and their old traditions.
It will be my business at this time to speak to you, Veterans of this Association, of the Old South for which we fought and for which so many of our comrades, as dear to us as our own heart's blood, laid down their precious lives. I would tell you, young people of that
